Friday, September 14, 2012

With the lockout now imminent, the Dallas Stars and many other NHL clubs assigned a large number of players to their AHL affiliates today. Dallas assigned twenty-six. Notables in the list that Texas may not have seen if not for the lockout include Cody Eakin, Tomas Vincour, and Brenden Dillon.

You'll note that hockey clubs are usually a 23-man roster and there were 26 players just assigned. Also, you have to add in Texas's players: Mike Hedden, John Ryder and Josh Robinson. Some of these guys are going to Idaho.

My best guess on who is going to Idaho from these assignees and Texas's signed players would be D John Ryder, G Josh Robinson, G Tyler Beskorowany , D Jace Coyle, D Hubert Labrie, and either F Mathieu Tousignant or F Antoine Roussell. Don't count out that some of these players could also go to Allen, where they would be closer to Texas for callups and closer to Dallas Stars HQ in Frisco for observation.

Additionally, the AHL tweeted today: "In event of lockout, @TheAHL clubs may sign locked out NHL-contracted players who finished 11-12 in AHL or who were on 2012 Clear Day list." This appears to apply to players who are on one-way contracts, essentially, and were in the AHL or on Clear Day rosters at the end of last year. Dallas does not have any players who fit that mold. Philip Larsen and Ryan Garbutt both earned new contracts and could have been candidate to slide down, but Texas did not placed either player on the Clear Day roster. That decision made perfect sense and still does.

And, breaking your hearts, the door has now closed on the fairy tale scenario that many had hoped for. Jamie Benn is not eligible to play in the AHL due to the above rules. To me, that makes sense since it would be an arms race otherwise and the league would no longer be developmental.

Here's the full release:

The Dallas Stars announced today that 26 players have been assigned to the Texas Stars, Dallas’ affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL). The club also announced that five players have been assigned to their respective Junior club teams.

3 comments:

It appears some AHL teams lucked out last season where we certainly did not. Teams like Edmonton knew they were not going to make the playoffs so they assigned great players to the clear day roster for OKC. I can only assume that Dallas did not assign many players to our clear day roster to give other guys a chance in the AHL at the end of the season. Because of this, we will not see Garbutt, Larsen or as could have happened, Jamie Benn.

Teams like OKC (Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle) and Charlotte (Jeff Skinner) are going to pound this conference. We, as Stars fans may be in for another looonngggg season. What a shame.

Someone with more knowledge of the situation can probably correct me but I believe that the players you reference from other teams are all on Entry Level Contracts and eligible to play in the AHL during the lockout.

The players you referenced for Dallas are all on one-way NHL deals and none are on ELCs. The ones that are (Vincour, Dillon, Eakin, R. Smith etc.) are eligible to play. Has nothing to do with last year's Clear Day Roster and everything to do with their contractual status this year.

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